Additive Manufacturing

Additive Manufacturing (AM) has been successfully applied using both metals and plastics in the aerospace, automotive, bio-medical, tooling, and other applications. Additive Manufacturing has gained popularity because of:

Role in Rapid Prototyping and making small batches of parts

Design parts that would otherwise be impossible to manufacture – reduced manufacturing constraints

Lower material usage either by design or because of less waste material

Lower energy usage – eliminate production step, no energy use for removal of material

Light weighting

No need for tooling

Manufacture assemblies without the need to assemble multiple parts, reducing part inventory.

While Additive Manufacturing was first made available 30 years ago, its use has only recently been accelerating because of improvements in manufacturing capabilities, reductions in costs, greater know-how and predictive tools. While great strides have been made in Additive Manufacturing, challenges still exist that require significant trial and error, material waste and reduced levels of confidence. These challenges include: